• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2021

Republic of Korea has many nuclear facilities in the country, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea(North Korea) locates in the surrounding country. Therefore, it is necessary to construct the target facility's nuclear forensic data in a preemptive response to the changing international situation. For this reason, this study suggests "signature" materials used to understand the origins and sources of nuclear and other radioactive materials, taking into account domestic nuclear facilities and the nuclear fuel cycle. In domestic, pressurized light water reactors and pressurized heavy water reactors are in operation, and enriched and natural uranium are used as fuels. In the front-end fuel cycle, the signature materials can be nature uranium and UF6 in the uranium enrichment process. The domestic back-end fuel cycle adopts a non-circulating cycle excluding the reprocessing process, and the primary signature material is spent nuclear fuel. According to IAEA recommendation, the importance of these materials as the signature and characteristic contents are suggested in this study. To prove the integrity of nuclear material and build a national nuclear forensics library, it is necessary to grasp the signature material and acquire the characteristic data considering the domestic nuclear facilities and the nuclear fuel cycle.